New police, fire chiefs named

1of 11Current Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo (left) is named as the new police chief of the Houston Police Department by mayor Sylvester Turner during a press conference at City Hall Thursday afternoon, Nov. 17, 2016 in Houston. Mayor Turner also named Samuel Pena (right) the new chief of the Houston Fire Department.Photo: Houston Chronicle

2of 11Mayor Sylvester Turner named Judge ﻿Elaine Marshall as presiding municipal court judge, one of a handful of appointment sTurner announced on Thursday at a news conference at City Hall. ﻿﻿Photo: Mark Mulligan, Staff

3of 11Current Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo is named as the new police chief of the Houston Police Department during a press conference at City Hall Thursday afternoon, Nov. 17, 2016 in Houston.Photo: Houston Chronicle

4of 11Current Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo is named as the new police chief of the Houston Police Department during a press conference at City Hall Thursday afternoon, Nov. 17, 2016 in Houston.Photo: Houston Chronicle

5of 11Samuel Pena speaks after the announcement that he will be the new chief of the Houston Fire Department during a press conference at City Hall Thursday afternoon, Nov. 17, 2016 in Houston.Photo: Houston Chronicle

7of 11Current Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo (left) is named as the new police chief of the Houston Police Department by mayor Sylvester Turner during a press conference at City Hall Thursday afternoon, Nov. 17, 2016 in Houston. Mayor Turner also named Samuel Pena (right) the new chief of the Houston Fire Department.Photo: Houston Chronicle

9of 11Current Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, who was just named as the new Houston Police Department chief, is greeted following a press conference announcing several new city positions at City Hall Thursday afternoon, Nov. 17, 2016 in Houston.Photo: Houston Chronicle

Mayor Sylvester Turner on Thursday named Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo to be Houston's first Latino chief of police, recognizing the rapidly shifting demographics of the nation's fourth largest city and the strained relationship between the department and the citizens it serves.

Turner also named El Paso Fire Chief Samuel Peña to head the Houston Fire Department, filling the top positions at the city's public safety agencies after an extended period without permanent leadership.

Peña would become the city's second Latino fire chief.

"Words can sometimes be deficient, but actions speak much, much louder," Turner said. "Houston is a diverse city, and we must have a leadership team at City Hall that is able to understand all the different populations that we serve."

If confirmed by city council, both will assume leadership of their respective departments at a tenuous juncture. The departments face budget and staffing constraints and struggle to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population. They also face the prospect of retirements in response to controversial pension reform plans.

Acevedo and Peña, who head smaller departments, said they look forward to the challenge of leading Houston's public safety agencies, both the fifth largest in the nation.

"I am proud to be here in the city of Houston, and remember that criminals are the only ones who need to be afraid of the police," Acevedo said in Spanish. "If you're a victim … or a witness, come forward. We're at your service."

Peña comes from a department that responds to about 76,000 calls a year. In Houston he will see about four times that number and Thursday he said he anticipated a steep learning curve.

"I'm going to be drinking from the proverbial fire hose for a while, learning the processes and really getting to know the command staff, sitting down with the associations and the rank and file to find out what their priorities are, from their perspective, before we make any wholesale changes," the 47-year-old said.

Acevedo replaces Interim Police Chief Martha Montalvo and Peña takes over for Interim Fire Chief Rodney West. Police Chief Charles McClelland retired in February, and former Fire Chief Terry Garrison stepped down in October 2015 to run a fire department in suburban Phoenix.

They are slated for City Council confirmation on Nov. 30. Acevedo would start the following day, and Peña would start Dec. 18. Mayoral spokeswoman Janice Evans said salary negotiations for both positions still are underway.

Turner's office used a private executive search firm, Russell Reynolds Associates, to conduct both processes and maintained that neither applications nor resumes had to be made available through the Texas Public Information Act, a decision government watchdogs criticized for a lack of transparency.

Stephen Newton, the Russell Reynolds executive who led both search committees, said eight-10 candidates were interviewed for each post. They included a mix of internal and external candidates.

The 11-month process worried some that the lack of stability at the top could jeopardize public safety and dampen morale.

'Give me the chance'

Acevedo, 52, inherits the difficult task of policing a rapidly growing city more than twice Austin's size with a police staffing shortage and a tight city budget.

The city also is seeking to gain legislative approval for a pension reform deal that already prompted three top Houston Police Department chiefs to file retirement paperwork.

Acevedo asked the agency to have his back.

"I can just say this to the men and women of the Houston police department: I love cops. I love policing," Acevedo said. "Just give me the chance to show you what the mayor saw in me."

Phil Hilder, a criminal defense attorney and member of the city's Independent Police Oversight Board, welcomed the selection of Austin's chief.

"He has a very progressive history at the Austin Police Department and has been very responsive to community concerns and is open-minded to innovations and new ideas in policing," said Hilder, who has also served as a federal prosecutor. "Policing is moving in a rapid direction, embracing new technologies which will require somebody at the helm who will embrace those innovations, in terms of training and to keep the community informed about where policing is going."

Acevedo was known as an outgoing, progressive leader in Austin but weathered internal criticism over his handling of police shootings. Most recently, he fired the officer involved in the fatal shooting of unarmed 17-year-old David Joseph. The police union accused Acevedo of an "unjust and politically motivated firing."

McClelland, Houston's former police chief, warned of the obstacles the outsider could face.

"With community relations on the forefront, any outside police chief is going to have significant challenges … learning all the internal operations and managers and who are your talented folks in your organizations," he said.

"He certainly was the right fit in Austin. …That kind of liberal progressive town, I think he was a good fit [there]. Houston is not Austin - we know that. How well he'll do here, I don't know."

U.S. Marshal Gary Blankinship, a former Houston police officer and union president who has known Acevedo for a long time, described him as "very personable," but also a resolute manager.

Acevedo's police officers and federal marshals worked together in the recent arrest in Houston of one of three men charged with the attempted assassination of Austin District Judge Julie Kocurek in November 2015, Blankinship said.

"He's very qualified to be the police chief of Houston - I wish him well and look forward to working with him,'' said Blankinship.

Many 'issues are similar'

The challenges Peña will face include the potential loss of new recruits wary of reduced benefits, aging facilities and calls for new equipment. The Chronicle also revealed that the fire department doesn't know where most dangerous chemicals in the city are located, and city officials have voiced concern about the agency's resource allocation.

Peña indicated he would be cautious early on and acknowledged the jump to leading a department roughly four times the size of El Paso's.

"Certainly the scale is different," Peña said. But, he added, "A lot of the issues are similar. They're not the same, but they're similar: response times, equipment, personnel."

Houston's fire union stressed those challenges while urging Peña to stand up to City Hall officials.

"Job one for Chief Peña will be to better balance his obligations at City Hall against those he will have to the 4,000 firefighters who have earned his support," the union said. "We urge Chief Peña to challenge City Hall to commit to the 'shared sacrifice' imposed upon us by sensibly addressing the declining condition of the (Fire Department) fleet and facilities, a too-often adversarial command staff and stalled contract negotiations."

City Councilwoman Ellen Cohen praised Turner for picking two Latinos for top jobs in a city whose population is nearly 45 percent Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census.

"You can talk a lot about diversity, but it's different when you make something happen, and if you look at these two appointees, you can really see the face of Houston and what we expect to be the face of this country."

Harris County also elected Ed Gonzalez sheriff last week.

East End community activist Jessica Castillo-Hulsey echoed Cohen.

"We waited too long for this," Castillo-Hulsey said. "Speaking for my community, we're very happy, we're very hopeful that we're in the right direction."

Turner also tapped Interim Housing Director Tom McCasland as permanent leader, named Elaine Marshall as presiding municipal court judge and reappointed Phyllis Frye as a municipal court judge. Frye was the first openly transgender judge appointed in Texas.

Jim Pinkerton, Mike Ward and St. John Barned-Smith contributed to this report.

Rebecca Elliott covers City Hall for the Houston Chronicle, having previously written about local politics, namely the 2015 Houston mayor’s race. She joined the Chronicle in 2014 as a crime and general assignment reporter in Fort Bend County. A New York City native, she also has reported on politics for Reuters, POLITICO and BuzzFeed.